The Gulf Time Newspaper One of the finest business newspapers in the UAE brought to you by our professional writers and editors.

  Bloomberg New York real estate developer Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp. offered to buy a controlling stake in Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd., a unit of distressed IDB Development Ltd., according to two people familiar with the matter. IDBD said it received a non-binding offer that values the insurer at $743 million, without identifying the bidder. Michael Alpert, the president of ...

  Washington / AP Long-term U.S. mortgage rates rose this week but remained at low levels that could entice purchasers amid the current home buying season. Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said that the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage increased to 3.64 percent from 3.58 percent last week. It’s far below its level a year ago of 3.87%. The average rate on 15-year ...

  Bloomberg Donald Trump criticized the wind-power industry this week for killing birds. A far bigger threat is real estate developers and their tall buildings. About 599 million birds are killed annually in the U.S. when they fly into windows, trailing only loss of habitat and cats as the top causes of bird deaths, according to the National Audubon Society. ...

  Washington / AP Americans signed more contracts to buy homes in April for the third straight month, driving pending home sales to the highest level in more than a decade. The National Association of Realtors said that its seasonally adjusted pending home sales index surged 5.1 percent last month to 116.3, the highest since 117.4 in February 2006. The April ...

  Bloomberg Spanish lender Banco Popular’s plan to sell about €2.5 billion ($2.8 billion) of new shares has dealt a brutal lesson to investors trusting past efforts by regulators and management to clean up European bank balance sheets. The stock fell to a 26-year low after the offering was announced this week. The fact is that Banco Popular was supposed ...

  EMIRATES BUSINESS Saxo Bank, the online multi-asset trading and investment specialist, has announced a new white label partnership with Lufax, China’s largest internet finance company. The partnership, expected to launch within the next three months, will see Lufax leverage the trading technology that underpins the award-winning SaxoTraderGO — providing Lufax’s considerable client base with a seamless experience across mobile ...

  BLOOMBERG Barclays Plc’s credit-card chief wants his hands on Jes Staley’s freed-up capital. Amer Sajed, promoted to run Barclaycard in April, says he has the backing to expand in markets like Germany and the US from Staley. After joining the executive committee, the advocate for growth has a say in how the bank’s resources will be deployed. “I am ...

  Washington / AFP The hackers behind the $81 million heist from the Bangladesh central bank have likely been involved in a series of attacks on the financial system, a US security firm has concluded. Researchers at the security firm Symantec also found that the malware used in the bank hacks shares code with that used in the massive 2014 ...

  Bloomberg India’s peer-to-peer lenders are pushing back on central bank proposals to regulate the online platforms, arguing the new rules would hamper the development of an industry in its infancy. Firms such as Lendbox and LenDenClub argue that suggested rules in a Reserve Bank of India discussion paper last month treat them like banks with their own loan books, ...

  Kostel / AFP In Slovenia’s southeastern BelaKrajina region, where the crystal-clear Kolpariver marks the border with Croatia, a forlorn barbed wire fence reminds locals of the migrants that never came. Instead of keeping refugees out, the barrier cutting through lush forests and gently swaying fields all along this pristine waterway is now chasing away tourists.Its razor-sharp coil has also ...